The FAB met today and we spent some time talking to a potential legal representative who will help us with legal side of formation. This the second attorney interviewed, and we are continuing with our due diligence.

Here are some key milestones of the official formation:

Filing articles of incorporation

This is very basic and once filed, we can receive a tax ID number and open a bank account. The bank account will allow us to begin our charter membership drive (more on that soon).

Bylaws

This is probably the biggest part of the incorporation process. The Governance working group has a draft outline, and once ratified by the FAB, the attorneys will convert it into a legally binding document. Our ability to operate as a tax-exempt non-profit trade association is contingent on the content of our bylaws. More importantly, it is what will attract members to the PMA. The FAB will ratify charter bylaws, which we fully expect to evolve as our membership grows and various aspects of our efforts mature.

Tax-exempt status

This is granted by the IRS and is often the most lengthy part of the process. It is a stringent process and can take 3-9 months. However, we can operate as a non-profit entity as soon as we have filed articles of incorporation, and the IRS tax-exempt status is retroactive to our date of incorporation, so we won’t be held responsible for taxes in the interim.

As you can see, there is still work ahead. The working groups have actually done much of the work required in developing the bylaws, and we hope that will help accelerate some of these steps.

Here are some additional milestones:

Establishing charter membership levels and dues

These will be different than the general membership dues, and will be available at a premium, to help us boost our fund raising. The charter members will get, in return for their dues, the ability to vote in the charter board of directors. The FAB has been reviewing many proposals. This has been a very difficult and lengthy process, but we all understand how critical this will be.

Board of Directors makeup

There have been several proposals offered on this topic, and much debate on it too. The makeup of the board will be for the charter board, voted in by the charter members. This board makeup will likely change in the future as the PMA membership evolves.

Selecting legal representation

As mentioned above, we are in the process of due diligence. We want to engage help as soon as we can, so we can officially incorporate.

As we make progress on these issues, I’ll keep you posted.

–Rebecca

I haven’t been keeping up on my posting, but the PMA volunteers have been extremely busy in the formation activities. After much debate, careful analysis and exhaustive review, we are getting very close to some huge milestones. The Formation Advisory Board (FAB) will be ratifying some key formation elements in the coming weeks:

• Charter members levels, benefits and dues
• Charter board of directors structure and election process
• Charter by-laws
• Legal/administrative representation

We are still optimistically working towards the opening of the Charter Membership period within weeks! And we are still targeting January for our official launch and first member meeting.

I want to extend a big thanks and much admiration to the 45 volunteers who make up the FAB and the working groups. This has not been an easy process; there are so many varying perspectives to take into consideration. The volunteers have put in an amazing amount of effort and expertise, and we would be sunk without them.

Here are some things you can look forward to very soon:

• Opening of the Charter Membership period
• Call for free or discounted services or goods for PMA members
• A new web site with a look and feel worthy of the performance marketing industry

Please don’t hesitate to contact me directly!

Regards,

Rebecca Madigan

Founding Organizer

rebecca@performancemarketingalliance.com

We have had three terrific and productive days at Affiliate Summit. The working group and FAB members turned out in force at the show and have been extremely valuable in helping us move closer to formation.

On Saturday afternoon we had our first joint working group/FAB meeting. In all we had about 20 people attend, including 8 out of the 11 FAB members. Here are some of the topics we discussed:

• A balanced and well represented membership is critical. Individual publishers need to have equal voice with the corporate members, and especially the sponsor members.
• The group settled on a membership model that is in three tiers (akin to SEMPO): an individual, a company and a ‘circle’ level. Each level would be priced differently, starting with something reasonable for individual publishers, something more significant for companies, and something substantial for circle (or whatever they are called). What those dollar amounts are and what those level benefits are have yet to be determined. But the group reiterated that membership level shouldn’t cause an imbalance in voting power.
• We opted for this tiered approach, as opposed to a ’segmented’ approach that defines membership by business model. The diversity in size and types of potential members seemed to make that difficult.
• What is the PMA trying to achieve? We need to bring something to the industry and we need to bring something of value to each member. We all recognize the need to raise the visibility and credibility of performance marketing. And at this meeting, the group added that it comes down to the ‘effectiveness of performance marketing.’ We each want to be more effective in our business, and collectively we want the industry to be more effective. Each special interest group or segment within the membership, can help define what effectiveness means to them. And it allows the PMA to evolve the definition of effectiveness as the market evolves.

On Sunday evening, there was another joint meeting, and 16 people attended. This group discussed the concept of ‘charter’ or ‘founding’ membership, and getting the PMA legally established so we can accept memberships, and begin tackling the things the members want to see accomplished.

• Before we can begin accepting members, we need to form officially. It was suggested that a law firm could be the agent for the PMA and hold membership dues and sponsorship donations in escrow until the PMA becomes its own legal entity. The law firm would also help with incorporation and making sure the process we use to elect the initial board of directors meets all legal requirements for a non-profit. We learned this is fairly typical for non-profit industry associations. It was a great relief to hear that recommendation, and now we have this option to pursue, moving us further to formation.

Today there was a Q & A session held, to give the community an opportunity to pose questions about the PMA. We had a great turn out, especially from the working groups and FAB volunteers (probably nearly 30). There were a couple of contentious questions, and I think those were based on frustration that we aren’t yet organized and can’t address industry issues yet, beyond what individuals may be able to do. There is also some concern that we haven’t been inclusive in our efforts, but I think the great turn out (over half our volunteers were there), demonstrated to everyone that we have a very broad and diverse group of people volunteering their time to help form the PMA.

It has been suggested that we post the contact information here for all the FAB members and working group members. That way, people with questions or concerns can reach out to people they know (and with so many volunteers, you probably know someone!). I’ll give those volunteers a brief chance to ‘opt-out’ of that suggestion and then I’ll post their information next week.

Next up:

The working groups are finalizing their formation recommendations, and we hope to have the FAB vote on the formation proposals. We also hope to become official very soon so we can start accepting members.

For all of you who have participated at the show, many thanks and keep up the good work!

Thank you to all who have participated in the nomination and voting for the FAB. The response and level of participation has been fantastic. Over 115 people were included in the nominee list, and 85 people voted. But this is just the beginning! There are more ways to participate in the formation of the PMA.

Working Groups

Five working groups have been formed and team leads have been chosen, who will keep the working groups on track.

• Sam Harrelson – Scope and Objectives
• Brook Schaaf – Governance
• Peter Bordes – Fundraising
• Durk Price – Membership
• Brad Waller – Operations

The groups have begun their work, but if you would still like to participate, we are accepting volunteers through the end of this week. Please email me (rebecca@performancemarketingalliance.com) if you’re interested. More information on working groups can be found on the working groups category page.

Board of Directors

The Board of Directors will be the decision making body of the PMA and will have fiduciary responsibility for the organization. The Governance working group will be recommending a structure for the board of directors, qualifications, the election process, etc. The Governance structure will be ratified by the FAB by the end of August. If you would like to be considered for an executive decision making role within the PMA, please keep a board seat in mind. Check back on this website for more information on the board of directors as it becomes available.

Founding Memberships

The Membership working group is developing recommendations on starting membership for the PMA. Along with the Governance working group, they are learning at what point we need to be organized before we can start accepting memberships. We definitely want to accept memberships at the earliest possible opportunity, and we are exploring the idea of having a founding member designation available. Please check back on this website for more information on when founding memberships will be available.

Sponsorships

The PMA will be able to accelerate its formation and expand its reach if it is funded by sponsorships. If you are interested in sponsorship opportunities, please contact Peter Bordes of MediaTrust (the fundraising working group lead) at pbordes@mediatrust.com.

The challenge with starting an association is to balance representation of the entire community with taking action on steps that get the formation underway. How long do we take input before we start making decisions? And who makes those decisions? Is it reasonable to have the entire community participate in the effort to organize an association? If we have a smaller group of decision makers, will they represent the perspectives of the community at large?

Realistically speaking, we need to rely on a relatively small group of people to determine how to form this organization. If the group is too large, we’ll debate various aspects until everyone has lost their enthusiasm and this thing will die before it has started. However, this small group of people needs to represent the many interests of the performance marketing community.

So here’s our plan, which allows input from the community at large, and expedites the formation of the organization by keeping decision making to a small but representative group of people:

Discovery efforts are underway. I have interviewed over 40 industry leaders to get their thoughts and ideas on starting an association. Links to surveys are available on this blog for any and all performance marketing professionals (or hopefuls!) to provide their input.

Working groups will be formed to help outline options and recommendations on various aspects of getting an association started, including the strategic goals, governance, financial goals and structure, membership criteria and dues, and association management. We are looking for volunteers from the community to develop proposals on each of these areas (email rebecca@performancemarketingalliance.com if you’d like to be on a working group). There will be separate posts outlining the objectives of each of the working groups.

A Formation Advisory Board will be formed to determine and approve the various proposals provided by the working groups. The Formation Advisory Board (FAB) will be nominated from the interviewed industry leaders, and voted in by that same group. It will consist of 11 people representing the community at large. The FAB will also elect the first Board of Directors. The FAB will only have the purpose of forming the organization and will be disbanded after the first Board of Directors is elected. There will be separate posts detailing the FAB roles, responsibilities, and election process.

The Board of Directors will have a make up determined by the FAB. The Board of Directors will have fiduciary responsibility over the operations of the organization. This is an important group necessary for a non-profit organization that is self-supporting. There won’t be much information on the Board formation until the FAB makes its recommendations.

Stay tuned for posts going into more details.

–Rebecca